“It is a critical time for airlines and TMCs in the business travel sector with some airlines not valuing the crucial role that TMCs perform in the selling, servicing and distribution of airlines’ products and services.”

He added: “Those airline partners within the GTMC, the voice of business travel, are making a clear statement and commitment in support of the GTMC members and third party distribution.”

The Virgin Atlantic and Delta partnership launched in January 2014, created a trans-Atlantic route network that offers customers up to 39 flights a day from the UK to 15 nonstop destinations in the United States.